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December 4th 2007

Published: December 4th 2007

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Chris and Cat

Nice hats

* Good Morning Vietnam **
** My best attempt for trying not to use the most predictable blog title ever, and to show how cultured/multi-lingual I am

But anyway, we arrived in Nam from Cambodia after an 8 hour bus journey, reaching Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as everyone , including the locals call it. Chilled here for a while deciding what to do next.

We decided to skip the tunnel tours here (having seen enough war stuff in Cambodia) and instead took a tour of the Mekong Delta, which was nice and relaxing, got to see a honey farm and how they make rice paper, and then hold a massive python, all good fun.

After the tour we took the first of some long bus journies to Mui Ne, well known for its kitesurfing/windsurfing and general beach life. Stayed at a really nice little hostel there and the beach was awesome but there was no wind (well to me, Chris, there was wind, but to those experts (Cat and the kitesurfers) apparetly it was not the right type, so we chilled on the beach.

A further 12 hour bus journey brought us to Hoi An,

Us and Monty

where we met some other travellers and got drunk, that is all I remember about this place. Oh yeah we ended up drinking snake wine, which tasted like Tequila - so then we decided on a round of tequila/snakewine stuntmen (don't ask mum). Luckily I can still see out of both eyes.

Yet another bus journey to Hue where we took a tour of the Demiliarised Zone, got to see the tunnels that the locals lived in for 7 years! and the craters from the American bombs. Once we got back to Hue we ran into the same travellers from Hoi An and got to pose for some publicity photos for the new website of the bar we were drinking in, so we are now famous, it would help if I could remember the name of the bar.

Next, Hanoi, after (you guessed it) another long bus journey of over 12 hours, although the buses over here have beds so it wasn't too bad. The weather here (hanoi) hasn't been great, overcast and a bit of rain, so we've decided to skip the trip to Halong Bay and chill here for a few days before heading to Laos.

Moped city... crossing the road in these parts of the world is an extreme sport

We are running low on time and want to get back to Bangkok in time to get some tailor made suits for Cat and some lovely dresses for me (when in Rome...).

All in all we haven't thought too much of Nam, most of the cities look the same and we're getting hassled by touts everywhre we go (much more than any other country), although we've met some other sound travellers on more than one occasion which has been a chuckle. Hopefully Laos will be better - still can't complain, I haven't got up before 1pm for about 5 days straight, living the dream.

Hope you are all ok and enjoying life, looking forward to seeing everyone at xmas, although we have just found out that neither of our cars will start, and that neither of them are taxed, MOT'd or insured. Might be an issue considering the cash flow situation - although we have heard rumours that selling a kidney gets you about 15 grand on the strets of Bangkok - food for thought.

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